128 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



livery, the girls to have new frocks for the 

 county ball, the sons to be " educated as 

 gentlemen." Contrast with all this the social 

 equality, personal affection and real respect 

 which often mark the relations between a 

 French cur 6, with 1000 francs per annum, and 

 his parishioners. 



Again the phrase " inferior clergy," once 

 indiscreetly used of the rural parsons by a 

 Church dignitary, has a meaning. The ablest 

 and most zealous young men naturally desire 

 to find their life-work in the environment of 

 the big towns and the big opportunities offered 

 therein. It is abundantly clear from the 

 current experience of any Oxford or Cambridge 

 " don " that the abler men at the Universities 

 do not as a rule take Holy Orders, and that 

 of the undergraduates who do become clergy- 

 men, the least efficient tend to occupy the 

 country livings. 



Further and this is the strongest reason for 

 the widespread unpopularity of the rural 

 clergy and the neglect of the Church's minis- 

 trations the clergy have always identified 

 themselves with one political party the 

 party which, more especially in rural districts, 

 stands for the defence of property, privileges 

 and social influence. Mr. Masterman's dictum 

 that no established Church had ever been 



